President Laurent Gbagbo’s party and pro-government militias have been demanding they quit the country, charging they are partisan.

Ivory Coast, the world’s largest cocoa producer, descended into civil war after a failed September 2002 coup attempt.

Peace deals have largely reduced fighting but failed to reunite the one-time French colony.

Last month, unidentified assailants attacked two police stations in a northern suburb of the capital, Abidjan, briefly seizing a nearby town in clashes that left about 10 people dead. Following the attack, U.N. and French peacekeepers were deployed in the town.